Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Handicat Results!

After a few days of work and recovery, I hafta say that I'm really pleased with how the Handicat turned out. There were snafus and problems, but on the whole, I think everyone had a pretty good time. I learned a ton so hopefully next time I decide to throw an alleycat it'll be even better. And maybe next time, it won't be the hottest day of the year so far.

But anyway, huge props to Charles, who pulled out first fixed/first overall! Not to mention being the first to every checkpoint and therefore the one who had to do the most stuff. Here are the full results:

Taylor and David both had to leave in the middle, and Brandon got a flat, but still, big thanks to everyone just for coming out. Seriously, just having people come out pretty much made the event for me. And DEFINITELY big thanks to all my volunteers. Sitting around in 95 degree weather just waiting on some sweaty dudes to show up all at once is not easy or necessarily fun.

I didn't get to take any pictures between setting up the last checkpoint and being on the phone coordinating with ten people, but Cort has some nice shots from the last checkpoint especially.

The whole affair was quite bittersweet for me. I'm definitely proud of myself for getting it together, but I really just wanted to be out there doing the checkpoints myself. Check out my entire rundown of the event after the cut:

So, this whole affair started about two weeks ago at a Thursday night ride. I had heard that Cort wasn't going to have time to throw an alleycat at bff this year, and while I had tossed around the idea of doing it myself, it wasn't really until that night that I decided to do it.

With only two weeks to plan it, sponsors were pretty much out of the question, which was just as well for me; I didn't really feel up to randomly petitioning for prizes at that point. Maybe next time? Luckily, Cort had a nice stockpile of leftovers from past events, and Cara was able to toss in some of her nice handmade stuff.

After a night brainstorming with friends for checkpoint ideas, we came up with quite a few good ones, but here are the ones we actually ended up using:

1. Crableg
This turned out being one of the ones that I felt the worst about. Basically, to start the race, people had to crab-walk a good distance to their bike. Little did I know that the grassy spot I had chosen was full of prickers - people were really in pain, and this was just the first checkpoint!

2. Temporary Tattoos
And of course, since the checkpoints were ordered, I knew that the first one was gonna get mobbed like crazy - sorry Jessica! But here, the riders had to slap on a bunch of temporary tattoos before moving on. Unfortunately, lotsa sweat and heat are not the best reagents for applying tats.

3. Trampoline
Pretty self-explanatory: people had to jump on a trampoline. We were gonna cut down on the number of jumps for people by letting them do tricks, but after balling for like 5 miles, I don't think anyone really felt like it, though I'm told Charles tried.

4. Drive-by
Originally, people were supposed to be handed a watergun and hit a few targets while on their bike, but it ended up just being, "Get hosed down while people throw snap-pops at you."

5. Climb a tree
People had to climb higher if they got there earlier.

6. Find a book
This was actually one of my favorites. People got to the library and were given an author and title and had to go copy down the first line of a book.

7. Get Made-up
Another checkpoint that suffered due to people riding more or less together. Tiffany originally had plans to give the first person corpse paint, but it still ended up pretty cool.

8. Eat bread. Lots of it.
Or at least just cram it in your mouth and gag a bit.

9. Dizzy Bat Spin
I thought for sure between this and the last checkpoint I'd see a hurl, but no such luck.

10. Cardboard slide down a hill
This was gonna be so cool, but it ended up not happening due to Memphis in May monopolizing the bluff hills. Just ended up drinking a beer and rolling down the hill.

11. Take pictures with strangers on Beale St.
Haha, look for these pictures to be scanned soon. It's pretty awesome, with all these sweaty dudes in make up and a bunch of random tourists.

12. Slip'n'Slide
Ended it up with a checkpoint lifted from last year's Watercat. Wanted a pool, but yeah, this worked relatively well anyway.

So yeah, that was pretty much it. I had a great time. Can't wait for the next one!